No infirmity in decision disallowing meeting of AAP MP Sandeep Pathak with Kejriwal in jail: HC

New Delhi, Sep 4 (PTI) The Delhi High Court on Wednesday said there was no infirmity in Tihar jail authorities' decision to deny visitation right to AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sandeep Pathak to meet Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in prison even as it gave him the liberty to seek permission again.

The jail authorities had permitted Pathak to meet Kejriwal twice in April but then disallowed it, claiming that certain statements made by the MP after meeting the chief minister were in contravention of prison rules and mostly politically motivated.

Regarding Pathak's plea that he may be allowed to meet Kejriwal in future, Justice Neena Bansal Krishna said he is at liberty to move an application seeking visitation which shall be considered by the jail superintendent in accordance with the law.

The court, which had reserved the order on August 22 after hearing the submissions of the counsel for Pathak and Tihar authorities, disposed of the petition.

Kejriwal is lodged in Tihar jail under judicial custody in the alleged excise policy scam.

The court said one cannot overlook that when a person is in jail, his certain rights do get suspended or curtailed to maintain discipline in prison.

"Though much arguments have been made about there being no violation of Rule 587 of Delhi Prisons Rules, 2018, but from the tone and tenor of the statements made and also the admissions of the petitioner, clearly indicate that there was a violation of Rule 587 of DPR, 2018 and the visitation to the petitioner to physically meet Arvind Kejriwal had been rightly denied," the judge said.

Rule 587 states that the conversation at the interviews with inmates shall be limited to private and domestic matters and there shall be no reference to the prison administration and discipline and to other prisoners or politics.

Pathak's counsel has contended that the prison authority's decision to deny him a physical meeting with Kejriwal in jail was "arbitrary, illegal and completely unjustified".

Opposing Pathak's plea, the jail authorities had contended that he deliberately violated the prison consideration and spoke to the media on the deliberations he had with Kejriwal.

The prison administration is not in favour of allowing him the facility of physical 'mulakat' with the inmate in view of his past conduct, they said.

The court, in its order, said, "There is not an iota of doubt that the statements made by the petitioner were political, for and on behalf of Arvind Kejriwal and were clearly violative of Rule 587 of DPR, 2018".

It said these political statements were made on behalf of Kejriwal who, though the Chief Minister of the Delhi Government, is confined to jail precinct and is himself unable to address the public or make such statements.

The court added that Pathak was more like an agent or spokesperson and his statements cannot be held to have been made by him in the exercise of free right to speech and expression or violative of reasonable restrictions imposed by DPR.

"It becomes imperative that jail inmates during their physical meetings with the visitors do not create an atmosphere which may hamper the prison administration or result in political statements which have large ramifications on the general public and may also impact the atmosphere inside the jail," it said.

Among the statements the jail authorities claimed Pathak made after visiting Kejriwal were -- "Kejriwal is CM and will remain the CM and if needed he will run the government from inside the jail"; "From next week onwards, the CM will call two ministers to jail every week, where he will review their departments and give them guidelines and directions". PTI SKV RT RT